Mating Games 3: It's Friday, I'm in Love! Or Not!
by Kimberly T
Summary: COMPLETE! Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! Lexington's happy now. But Brooklyn got it in spades, and he's feeling the strain... 27th in the Life Goes On series.
1. The Adventures of Braveheart & LadyHawke

_**LIFE GOES ON**_

**MATING GAMES, PART 3:**

**It's Friday, I'm In Love (Or Not!)**

By Kimberly T. (email: kimbertow at yahoo dot com)

_Standard Disclaimers and acknowledgments apply; I'm not making a dime, please don't sue!_

**3.1: The Adventures of Braveheart and LadyHawke**

It was late Friday night in the mansion that most of the New Orleans Clan called home. After two nights of celebrating the arrival of the Manhattan Clan, they were returning to their normal duties and routine, though there were a few exceptions. Most of those exceptions, of course, were the result of the Manhattan Clan's arrival.

One of the outlying buildings on the estate, a small gardener's cottage, had been turned over to Goliath and Elisa for their use for the next few nights. Elisa had been absolutely mortified that Goliath had told Adam about her fertility cycle and his instinctive and extremely lusty reaction to it… but she'd had to admit that having a cottage for them to use during their three nights of nonstop sex, was better than her original idea of disappearing into the bayous for the duration. They had taken over the cottage just before dawn Friday morning, and hadn't been seen since. (Oh, they'd been heard from since then, or at least Goliath had been heard, but everyone graciously pretended they heard nothing.)

Inside the mansion, in one of the upstairs dens, Fox sat in an easy chair and looked at the scene before her with an amused smile on her face.

When the gargoyles had gone to their sleep that morning, several people had noted that Lexington and Rebecca, who had been missing most of the night, had arrived together on the rooftop just before dawn, holding hands. They'd looked both heartily embarrassed and deliriously happy, but since dawn had been only seconds away, no one had the time to ask them where they'd been and what they'd been up to all Thursday night, while everyone else in both clans had been at the _fais_ _do-do_.

So there'd been no time for questions then, and as soon as the gargoyles had awoken at sunset and shaken the last few stone shards off, the pair had glided away together, either not hearing or conveniently ignoring the questions being called after them. Adam had forbidden anyone to follow the pair, saying with a smile that if those two had found that they were happy with each other, then that was really all that mattered.

Everyone had agreed, including Fox; she certainly hadn't been looking for them when she'd gone to the upstairs den, where the clan kept their computer, to send an email to her husband David. She had figured that the two kids were up in a tree somewhere, doing what the gargoyle equivalent of hormone-crazed teenagers naturally do best, and she wouldn't have been a bit surprised to learn that they'd already gone past the "k-i-s-s-i-n-g" stage and were now working on the baby-making part of the rhyme. Which is why she'd been both surprised and amused to find Lex and Rebecca at the computer, thoroughly engrossed in a game of Myst. She really should have known…

When she'd come in, Lex had been sitting at the computer station, while Rebecca leaned over his shoulder and coached him on a particular puzzle that he'd evidently been having problems with before. Rebecca had been saying, "…don't blame you; I got stuck there for a little while. Okay, drain the water out of the chest…"

"I did, and it's still not floating!" Lex had complained.

"Think 'Real Life' for a moment. Once you've bailed all the water out of a leaky boat, how do you ensure it won't sink again?"

"I'd plug up all the--_d'oh_!" as Lex slapped himself on the forehead.

"That's right; you have to close the spigot again! Go ahead, close it, and see what happens next…"

"I can't believe I didn't figure that out while I was playing the game over at Matt's place," Lex had grumbled at himself as he'd complied.

"Well, I spent nearly every night that I wasn't on patrol in town or hunting in the bayou, playing this game until I'd figured it all out," Rebecca had shrugged. "From what you've told me, you haven't had nearly as much time to play…"

Fox had settled back in an easy chair with a book she'd been meaning to read for months—a signed copy of _Guerilla Warfare: A Historical and Biographical Sourcebook_; it had been a birthday present from David—while occasionally looking up to see what the kids were up to.

In due course and with only two more hints from Rebecca, Lex finished the game, and grouched, "That's it? I free the guy from his prison, and he just goes back to writing in his book? Sheez, for all the buildup, this is a pretty lame ending!"

"Yeah, I was hoping for more, too, and I sent an email to the creators complaining about it. Hopefully the sequel will be even better! Did you hear that it's supposed to be coming out next year?" Rebecca said, before suggesting that they switch from the computer to the Nintendo setup in the corner, and play Super Mario 64.

While the two gargoyles were busy setting up the Nintendo, Fox casually asked a few questions, and found out that Lexington and Rebecca had unknowingly met each other online several months ago; that "LadyHawke" and "Braveheart" had been chatting merrily for some time without either one knowing the other was a gargoyle!

Fox shook her head as she tried to digest that information. "Out of all the millions of people online, the odds that you two would end up in the same chat room together are just beyond belief! That's got to be the biggest coincidence of the decade…"

"We thought so too," Rebecca said off-handedly as she put in the game cartridge, "Until we started talking about where we'd really come across each other for the first couple of times."

"And where was that?" Fox asked, intrigued. "I thought the P.I.T. had the first real gargoyles-friendly site out there, and it can't be more than a few weeks old…"

"Yeah, that's the first real pro-gargoyles site out there; most of the others that mention us are definitely hostile, or just calling us an urban legend and a gigantic hoax," Rebecca agreed. "But neither of us went online just looking for other gargoyles; we went looking for other people who like the stuff we like! Video games, new technology, really good online comics…"

"And gliding at night," Lex added. "But it's pretty hard to find humans who do that; with their poor night-vision—sorry, no offense meant—anyway, most humans only go hang-gliding during the day, and the few who enjoy doing it at night don't have much of a presence online. I did a search on Google for it, and only found one website that had more to say about hang-gliding at night, other than that doing it on the 4th of July would be one of 'many undignified ways to die'."

"Though they're right about that much, by the way," Rebecca added with a suddenly grim look. "When American Independence Day rolls around, we stay well away from the fireworks displays! We actually lost a clan member to a fireworks mortar hit, back in 1974… Uh, sorry; where were we?" as she lost the grim expression and looked sheepish.

"Hang gliding at night, in general," Lex reminded her, before turning to Fox again. "So I found this one website, created by H.E. DuMedd; a guy who enjoyed hang-gliding both day and night. He found hang-gliding at night more challenging, because you get fewer thermals at night than you do during the day; he wore night-vision goggles and even took some pictures of the landscape while he was gliding, with 1600-speed film. He had some great pics of California's state and national parks by night! It's a shame he crashed and died last summer; I would have liked to… Well, anyway, the first time I went to his site, while I was signing his guest book, I noticed this other signature from someone calling herself 'LadyHawke'…"

Rebecca explained, "I'd found that site a few months before, and in my signature I'd left the address of the site I'd chosen for my homepage that week. I don't really have a homepage of my own—not yet, anyway, though if I can ever persuade Adam that we can sell our clan's artworks online, we can—well, anyway, since I don't have one of my own I like to provide links to sites that I really like, instead. And when I signed that guestbook, I left a link to the Carnivore Forum; it's a chat room for fans of Kevin & Kell."

"Kevin and Kell?" Fox asked with a raised eyebrow. "Is this some Hollywood couple I've never heard of?"

"Hardly!" Rebecca snorted. "No, 'Kevin and Kell' is this utterly awesome online comic strip! It's about this world inhabited entirely by sentient animals, and this couple that meets online and fall in love, and only find out when they meet in real life that she's a wolf and he's a rabbit! But they get married anyway, and they have a son from Kell's first marriage who's half-wolf, half-fox, an adopted daughter from Kevin's first marriage who's a porcupine--"

"Hedgehog," Lexington quickly corrected her.

"Porcupine; check the archive for last May! The strip said on May 1st that she underwent a genetic conversion after coming to America," Rebecca retorted, before turning to Fox again with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, that's one of our more debated points. Anyway, it's a really great comic; you should check it out sometime!"

"It's especially appealing for us gargoyles," Lex explained, "Because it deals with something that we have to deal with all the time: getting along with other species when there are some really profound differences, more than just skin-deep. But we're not the only ones who like it! It's got a lot of cyber-humor, too, like tonight's strip; this wandering thread that disappeared from the forum a few months ago, came back for Thanksgiving…" Lex faltered at the slowly glazing look in Fox's eyes, then said apologetically, "You really need the graphics in order to get some of the jokes."

"Anyway, I was already a member of the Carnivore Forum, when Lex signed on as Braveheart last winter," Rebecca said with a smile. "Since then, we've been chatting with Bugjuice, Riffraff and the others about the strip, about what life must be like in Kevin and Kell's world, about other stuff that more-or-less relates to our mutual interest. One of which has been –ahem- the recent appearance in the media of another sentient species…"

"Which Bojangles started, not either of us!" Lexington said swiftly. "Bugjuice wants me to weigh in with my 'expert opinion', but I privately told him to keep quiet abut my being what I am, even if I told him I'm Braveheart at that P.I.T. meeting, the Thursday before last."

"And I haven't added anything lately, because I was offline for nearly three weeks," Rebecca said almost apologetically. "It took a lot longer for our truck to get to New York than we'd planned, because it broke down in Tennessee."

By this time, Fox's head was spinning, as she tried to keep track of the main thread of conversation with all the asides the two gargoyles were throwing in. But she managed, "So, Rebecca, you haven't let the others know who 'LadyHawke' is yet?"

"No, and I'm not going to, until Adam gives the say-so," Rebecca said promptly. "I promised when I first went online that I'd never let slip to anyone about my species without his express permission."

"Neither of us has even gone to the chat room since we arrived here," Lex admitted. "It's really tempting, but now we're afraid one of us might let something slip accidentally about us being together now…"

"And then the cat just might start clawing its way out of the bag," Fox finished for him. "I applaud your self-restraint, both of you."

"Well, we have a lot of other stuff to keep us occupied," Lex admitted with a sheepish grin. "Playing Myst, the Nintendo games, Rebecca showing me around the estate… just talking, and finding out how much we have in common…"

"Talking is good," Fox agreed with a smile. A smile that became more amused, as she noticed that while they'd been talking, the two gargoyles' tails had crept together, seemingly with minds of their own, and were now slowly intertwining. "Well, I'm going to finish this book in my room, and leave the two of you to talk some more, all right? If anyone asks, I'll tell them you're fine and not to bother you."

Lex and Rebecca thanked her with embarrassed grins, and Fox got to her feet and sashayed out the door. But after closing the door, she paused and leaned back against the frame for a few moments, just listening.

And when she heard Rebecca shout joyfully, "Tickle attack!", followed by the sounds of a scuffle and Lex's high-pitched yelp, she smiled and went on her way. Tickling was often good, too; just like talking, it could lead to other things…

_Author's Notes: H.E. DuMedd and his night-gliding website never really existed, so far as I know, and hang gliding at night is indeed very risky, for those people born without their own wings. I have heard of people who've gone hang-gliding at night… but with limited visibility and without most of those lift-giving thermals caused by the sun warming the air currents, it's done only by the most advanced gliders, and only in certain cleared and relatively safe areas. In other words, kids, don't try this at home!_

_Nor does the Carnivore Forum actually exist, at least not by that name. But the online comic strip 'Kevin and Kell' not only really existed back in 1996, it's still going strong today! It can be found at (and if you're reading this at where they keep clipping out the weblinks, just do a search for "Kevin and Kell" and you'll find it right away!) To quote a website that's another fan of the strip, "KEVIN AND KELL is the only cartoon strip which can balance family life, technology, career pressure, teenage dating, and the need to kill something and eat it." Go check it out_!

To be continued…


	2. Brooklyn's Beefcake Woes

**3.2: Brooklyn's Beefcake Woes**

There were other exceptions to the resumption of the New Orleans' clan return to normalcy. Not just Rebecca, but all the unmated females that were of breeding age had been released from their assorted duties, so they could spend all their time with the Manhattan Clan's available males. And since one of the females, Martha, was the clan's best cook and normally essential to keeping the huge clan fed, Broadway had agreed to help out in the kitchen in her place.

Angela wasn't sure what sort of duties the elder Benedict normally had, but they had also surely been set aside while her clan was in town. He was the New Orleans Clan's chronicler, and on the first full night after their arrival, he'd approached Angela and Broadway and asked them to tell him the stories of their old clans, to be recorded for posterity.

Broadway hadn't had a chance yet to talk about the old clan in Scotland, because he'd been busy in the kitchen. But Angela had talked for hours, remembering and talking about far more than she'd originally thought she would, filling up three or four recording tapes and at least a dozen pages in Benedict's notebook. And during the interview, she had mentioned that the Magus had taught her and most of her rookery brothers and sisters how to read Latin.

Benedict had been delighted to hear that, and had asked if she would consider helping him with another project. It seemed that when the clan had emigrated here from Paris, over two hundred years ago, they had brought with them copies of the Paris Clan's chronicles. But the earliest chronicles were written in Latin, and knowledge of Latin was becoming rare. Benedict had some idea of what supposed to be written in those chronicles, from tales passed down through the generations… and he could pick out about one word in four of what was written in them, because the French language he also spoke had many Latin borrowings in it. But he had always wanted to translate and transcribe the old chronicles to a more modern tongue, to learn more about what had happened back when the clan had first allied itself with humans, and to share that knowledge with the younger generations.

Last night had not been a night for working; Angela had danced the night away with Broadway at the _fais do-do_, and was delighted to have gotten him to forget his crippled wing for a while. But tonight while Broadway was in the kitchen cooking and baking, she was sitting at a desk in the library oh-so-carefully turning the aged vellum pages of the old chronicles, while Benedict sat attentively at another desk nearby, armed with a blank journal and his tape recorder.

"…'with Brother Algernon'," Benedict said, repeating what Angela had just told him, as he scribbled in his journal. " 'He will return with more stone from…'—did you say 'from the old quarry', or 'from the new quarry'?"

"The new quarry," Angela said as she scanned the page. "Maybe the stonecutters at the old quarry were asking too much money for their building stones again…"

Benedict nodded slowly. "That could well be… or the bishop found them in disfavor for some other reason, and refused to do business with them for a time. I'm afraid that religion, politics and the economy have ever been intertwined. Well, perhaps we'll find out more in another few pages." He paused with his pen poised above the paper and hinted, "Ready for more…"

"Er… give me a minute, all right? This next paragraph is tricky," Angela said with a rueful look.

"Oh, of course, _cherie_!" Benedict said hurriedly. "You do me such a favor in reading this at all; let it be done at your own pace! …Are there more Gallic derivatives in the sentences?"

"I think so. But it's not just the few words that are probably French instead of Latin; this particular chronicler's handwriting was atrocious! The Magus would have had him rewrite every paragraph on a slate board, three times, until he'd learned to write properly," Angela commented.

Benedict smiled wryly, then said, "This is rather dry work… Would you like me to get you something from the kitchen? Anything to drink or eat?"

"A glass of milk would be nice, thank you," Angela said with a smile. "And perhaps… perhaps another beignet?" Those little powdered-sugar-covered pastries were really very tasty.

"Of course another beignet! And I believe I shall indulge in one or two as well. Just wait here, and I'll be back soon with a snack for both of us," Benedict said with a smile as he opened the door.

While he was gone, Angela continued reading through the old chronicle, hoping to have puzzled out what had been written in the next paragraph before the elder returned. But two minutes after Benedict left, the door to the library opened again and Brooklyn slipped inside.

Frankly glad for the momentary distraction, she was about to call out a greeting to him when she noticed he had a shushing finger to his beak, and a desperate look in his eyes, as he swiftly but very quietly closed the door behind him. Then he rushed over to where she was sitting, rolling her chair slightly away from the desk—and dove under it! She leaned down with mouth agape to ask just what the heck he was doing, but Brooklyn hissed to her as he curled himself into a tight ball under the desk, "Cover for me! I went out through the window, okay?"

Before she could ask for an explanation, the door to the library opened again. This time Marie came in, with a smile on her face but an unmistakably predatory gleam in her eyes as she cooed sweetly, "Brooklyn?"

"Hello, Marie," Angela said casually, as she nonchalantly scooted her chair forward as far as she could, letting her wings slip off her shoulders to throw more of the desk's underside in shadow. "You just missed Brooklyn; he said something about needing some fresh air, and went out through the window."

Marie's smile wavered momentarily into an angry frown, before she set the original expression more firmly on her face and went to the nearest open window. She sprang out and into the air without a word of thanks or backward glance, and glided away on her white-feathered wings.

A few seconds after Marie left, Angela rolled back from the desk as she said with a smile, "The coast is clear; you can--"

"Not yet," Brooklyn hissed frantically. "Keep covering for me; I know another one will be along soon…"

And sure enough, the door to the library opened again, and Yvette came in, with virtually the same sweetly predatory look on her face as her rookery sister had been sporting moments ago. Angela again nonchalantly hid Brooklyn from her view, while greeting her with, "Hello, Yvette! If you're looking for Marie, she just left out the window; I think she was looking for Brooklyn, because he left the same way just a few minutes ago." And she had to work hard to suppress her grin as Yvette promptly went out the window as well, though the fuschia-colored female took the time to thank Angela for the information.

After a few more seconds, Brooklyn nudged at her legs as he whispered, "Any sign of Isabel?"

"No sign of her yet. And before you ask, no sign of Rebecca or Martha, either," as Angela pushed away from the desk again. With a sly grin on her face, she inquired sweetly, "Shall I ask Benedict to get you something to eat, too, so you can hide there all night?"

"Very funny," Brooklyn grumbled as he crawled out from under the desk and shook himself, settling his wings onto his shoulders. Then he turned to Angela and said earnestly, "Angela… is it too late to say I'm really, really sorry?"

"For this?" as Angela indicated with an offhand wave the hiding place he'd just come from, and his abrupt enlistment of her as a conspirator in hiding him. "Oh, I don't mind; it's actually kind-of fun."

"Actually, I meant for the way we guys were all behaving last summer, right after you first arrived in Manhattan." Brooklyn sighed as he slumped down on a nearby stool, his beak pointed at the floor. "You were more than right to tell us off like that, for the way we were treating you back then. All our bragging, and the squabbling; you were right, we weren't treating you like a person, but like a prize to be won. Believe me, right now I feel just like you must have felt..."

Angela did feel a little sorry for him, despite her amusement at his current predicament. She was positive that if somebody had told Brooklyn a year ago—even a week ago—that someday he'd have plenty of females vying for his attention, he would not only have disbelieved it, but considered it the ultimate male fantasy. But now that the 'fantasy' was a reality… While being such the object of so much rabid attention from the opposite sex could be a little flattering, it was also rather degrading, whether said object of desire was 'cheesecake' or 'beefcake'. She asked, "Do you think it would help if I talked to them?"

"Would you, please?" as Brooklyn gave her a pleading look. "I don't dare tell them off the same way you told us off; not while we're all guests in this territory!"

"I'll see what I can do discreetly, without getting into any shouting matches or insults. But I don't think you have to worry about Rebecca anymore. You were perching on the other side, so you didn't see them, but last dawn she and Lex came gliding in together, and shared a perch for sleeping; they both seemed pretty happy."

Brooklyn looked relieved. "That's great! I gotta tell you, from the way she attached herself to me back in New York, I thought she'd be fighting with the other two again any second now…" Then he added hastily, "Uh, but it's great for Lex, too. Maybe they'll turn out to be a perfect match for each other."

Angela grinned. "Considering that what little I overheard of their conversation before they left their perch this evening was about some computer game, I'd say they're compatible in at least one area already." Her grin turned wry as she asked, "So, from the four that are left, who's the worst offender?"

Brooklyn rolled his eyes. "Marie, definitely. That one is… I don't mean to offend you, Angela, but that female is downright _bitchy_. She's out to get me any way she can, and she doesn't care who she hurts in the process. I'd have told her to get lost already, if we weren't all guests down here."

Angela half-smiled. "From what I've been hearing and overhearing for the last two nights, quite a few people in this clan would agree with you about her. And I'm glad you can see her for what she is; at least three people I've heard talking about her were sure that she'd be the one to hook her talons in you."

Brooklyn looked grim. "When I was younger, she might have. She definitely knows how to put on a charming face, and use—ahem—body language as well. But I've had some experience with manipulative females, so it didn't take long for me to see the pattern this time."

Angela asked with idle curiosity, "Other manipulative females? Do you mean, back in the old clan?"

"Actually, I meant Dem—ah, anyway, Marie's pretty much off my list," Brooklyn hurriedly interrupted himself. "She may be pretty, but so are most poisonous snakes, and I wouldn't mate with them either."

Angela realized Brooklyn had almost said 'Demona', and wondered if her mother had ever tried to—no, she would **_not_** think about it! Instead, she said, "So, you're not considering Marie… for which Broadway, Lexington and I all thank you very much, by the way. What about the others?"

"Well… Honestly, I can't really tell much about the others yet, due to all this competition they're in. Marie's definitely the most aggressive, but in order to keep her from just taking me over, they're _all_ acting like her to some degree! When they're not being oh-so-sweet to me, they're being **_not_**-so-nice to each other… Well, Martha hasn't been bitchy at all, but I think she's given up on me already; I haven't even seen her since just after dusk, after Marie drove her out of the room almost in tears." Brooklyn sighed heavily. "I really wanted to go after her, to tell her that she's got some good qualities in her own way, but I was afraid that if I did, I'd be giving her false hope, you know? I mean, I can tell she's really nice, but she just doesn't seem my type."

Angela nodded soberly. "You're right, it might have given her false hope if you had gone to talk to her. So it's really down to just Yvette and Isabel?"

"Well… I suppose it is." Brooklyn seemed slightly uncomfortable for some reason. "But all I really know about them is that Yvette designs and sews clothing for a hobby, and Isabel does metalworking; she makes metal sculptures that the clan sells in an art gallery in New Orleans. And Isabel doesn't just drape herself all over me, like Marie and Yvette do; I can tell she's interested, but she's holding back, like she'd rather I get to know her mind first…"

Angela quirked a brow ridge at him. "Sooo… you like her for that? Perhaps prefer her already?"

Brooklyn looked almost frantic at her suggestion. "I barely know her! Great Dragon, I barely know any of them; don't ask me to choose _now_!"

Angela smiled at him. "Relax; I wasn't suggesting that. But I've got an idea for how to handle this, at least for the next few nights…"

And a short while later, Angela stepped out to go track down and bring together Yvette, Marie, Isabel and Martha, while Brooklyn stayed hiding in the library. But the first people she ran into were Hudson and Ursula, who had been visiting the clan's children in the rookery. Ursula had a hopeful expression on her face as she asked, "How is it going, Angela dear? Are you and Benedict having any success in translating the old chronicles?"

"It's a bit of a struggle sometimes, but we're already started on the second journal," Angela told her cheerfully. "I'm just taking a break now, to help Brooklyn out. Would you help me round up Isabel, Martha, Marie and Yvette, and bring them to the library?"

"Of course, dear!" Ursula said. "I'll have Adam or Stephen pass the word along to the sentries; if they're anywhere on the estate, we can find them all within minutes. But what exactly do you want to talk to them all about?"

After Angela explained her idea, Hudson nodded and agreed. "Aye, that would probably be for the best, for the next few days; Ursula and I have seen how the lasses have been pestering the lad ever since we arrived. This should give him a wee measure of peace…"

Ursula added, "An excellent idea, my dear; I can see why your Broadway has been singing your praises to everyone." Angela blushed slightly, pleased at the compliment, while Ursula went on, "Now, knowing the four in question as well as I do, if I may make a suggestion…?"

* * *

Some time later, while Angela, Benedict, Hudson and Ursula looked amusedly on, Brooklyn met with the four females in the library and laid down the law… or rather, the schedule. "Right now, I don't know enough about any of you to make any decisions on courting, and let's be honest; you really don't know anything about me! So what we're going to do is set up a dating schedule."

Brooklyn explained how, starting tomorrow, he'd be going out with one of them at a time, and stay with that one person the whole night while the others stay well clear. That way, one date at a time, they could can relax and talk and get to know each other without interruptions from the others. Brooklyn added, "I swear, I give a solemn oath, that I won't even begin to make any decisions on courting until after at least three dates with everybody who's interested, okay?" Then he gave a depreciating grin as he said, "After all, once you get to know me better, some of you may decide I'm actually not worthy of being your mate!"

"A valid point," Isabel said, her felinoid mouth twisted into a wry smile.

"Though utterly unlikely," Marie retorted, somehow managing to both sneer at her rookery sister and look adoringly at Brooklyn in nearly the same instant. "What female in her right mind _wouldn't_ think you're worthy of being her mate?"

Almost involuntarily, Brooklyn's eyes flickered over to where Angela was standing with the elders. Angela found herself blushing as she said almost defensively, "I never said I didn't find you worthy; I just found that I prefer Broadway!"

"Now, now, dears; everyone knows that there's no commanding the heart," Ursula said hastily, before anyone could stick their toe-talons any further down their own throats. "Now, a schedule has been suggested; Marie, you'll be Brooklyn's first date, starting at sunset tomorrow night, while Martha, you'll have him the next night. Then it'll be Yvette's turn, and then Isabel's. And as one of the females who raised you all from diapers, I expect you all to honor this agreement, and _not_ find reasons to interrupt or sabotage your sisters' dates. Is that clear? Do you all swear to honor this agreement?"

Yvette and Marie both looked somewhat mutinous, but muttered their agreement. Isabel agreed to the conditions with a look of relief on her face, but Martha agreed with a sad smile; as if she appreciated the effort to make the 'playing field' more fair for her, but she already thought it would ultimately be wasted.

"Excellent. And I've a suggestion for the dating venues, as well." Ursula looked at Brooklyn with a wry smile. "It seems hardly fair for you all to come clear down here from New York, and not experience the night life in the city that New Orleans is so famous for! We normally drive the truck into town only on patrol rotation nights, done Sundays and Wednesdays; the new patrol goes in before midnight, and the old patrol returns a few hours later. But since this is a special occasion, I'm sure everyone will agree to more frequent trips to town, leaving right after dusk and returning just before dawn."

Ursula's plan was for the truck to be driven in and back every night for at least the next four nights, with Brooklyn and his date for the night aboard. His date would show him her favorite aspects of New Orleans' nightlife, while they got better acquainted with each other.

Then for the next series of four dates, Brooklyn would go "back to nature;" he and his date would go into the bayou that lay at the edge of the estate. Those dates would be combining work with pleasure; the clan regularly hunted in the bayou, and the dating pair would be expected to bring back something for the clan's dinners. That would give Brooklyn the opportunity to see how well he and his dates worked together, not just played together.

Isabel asked curiously, "And the next set of dates after that?"

"Oh, we'll think about that in another week or so," Ursula said with a dismissive gesture. "But none of that starts until tomorrow night; for the rest of this night, you are all to _leave the poor boy in peace_! Give him some time to think, to talk to his own clan members; just to be something besides your romantic prey! I don't want to see or hear of any of you coming within two wingspans of him for the next six hours; not until we all take perches for dawn. The first one to violate that rule, loses one of her dates with him! Am I clear on that, too?"

All the females mumbled their assent to that as well, before filing out of the room. After they left, Brooklyn bowed low to Angela andthe elderstogether, saying "Thank you!" with utterly heartfelt sincerity.

"You're quite welcome, dear boy," Ursula said with a smile. "And if any of the ladies do try to bother you tonight, be sure to let me or another elder know." Her smile turned rueful. "But I'm afraid I just realized, I've rather boxed you in as well; the ladies could hardly be blamed if you walked into a room that one of them happened to be in already."

"Why not stay here in the library with me and Benedict for the rest of the night?" Angela suggested. "You know how to read Latin too, right?"

"Sure do; most of the books we had at old Wyvern were in Latin," Brooklyn said with a smile.

"Great! Then you can help me translate these old chronicles for Benedict. But I have to tell you, most of it isn't very exciting stuff," Angela said apologetically.

Brooklyn grinned even wider as he pulled his stool up closer to her desk. "Believe me, right now some nice, quiet reading sounds perfectly delightful…"

END

Another Author's Note: As I said before in my story "A Quiet Night, A Busy Day", I believe Brooklyn was tempted by Demona in more ways than one back in the episode "Temptation." If you want to know exactly what I and many other authors think just might have happened 'between the scenes' in that episode, go check out Christine Morgan's fanfic story "Confession." But be forewarned, you may never view that episode the same way again…


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